Well-known East Bay vocalist Miss Faye Carol was visiting a local prison with her band when she noticed another building going up next door. “You’re moving to a new facility?” she asked an official.
“No, we’re doubling the size of this one,” he said.
She went home and cried. But then she made a decision—she would contribute her talents to the effort to break the school-to-prison pipeline. And in 2023 she launched the first iteration of the School of the Getdown Youth Arts Camp, offered at no cost to Oakland youth ages 10-16. Note: There is a nonrefundable $100 application fee to ensure serious applicants.
“I wanted African American youth to have a focus on the arts, that created an ‘arts family,’ that gave them a chance to try new things with top teachers,” Carol said in a phone interview. She also felt a shorter camp would be more accessible to more kids. She begins camp by telling students, “I’m only here because I love you.”
The fourth year of the camp runs July 27-Aug. 1 at Geoffrey’s Inner Circle in Oakland. It will include Carol teaching vocals, alongside instructors in rap, gospel choir, percussion, visual art and dance. All students participate in all the disciplines and at the end of the week give a presentation for their families and guardians.
“The students are asked to put their phones down,” Carol said. “It’s amazing how quickly they form a unity when it’s fun. [The camp] is disciplined, but playful.” During the free lunch provided, artists from various genres perform. Videos of artists such as Duke Ellington are also shown.
“It might be a flamenco guitarist or a string quartet,” Carol said. “I love to see their eyes light up. I tell them to talk to their parents and grandparents about [the music and arts] they loved.”
Instructors are carefully selected. “We scour the bios to see experience and reviews,” Carol said. During the interviews, she determines how committed to teaching young people each artist is. “They must love kids, and they must demonstrate excellence,” she said.
One such instructor is visual artist Virginia Jourdan, who will be teaching for the second year. She was referred to Carol by a mutual artist friend and has an extensive background teaching art workshops for kids. “I was familiar with Faye Carol, and I liked the diverse offerings of the program,” she said.
In her camp section, which focuses on watercolors, she teaches the seven elements of visual art: space, color, form, shape, texture, line and value. Some students have already experimented with painting, while others are coming to it for the first time. “Some are really good artists to start out with,” she said, “but this is a totally different, meditative space [to create], to just be very relaxed.”
Once introduced to the session, students are very attentive, she said, adding, “I break things down to the simplest form.” It’s important, she feels, to expose kids to arts, even if a career in one of them isn’t in their future. “Art is about problem-solving,” she said, “and that is a life skill.”
At camp’s end, the presentation includes self-portraits painted by the students. These are created by taking a photo of each student, then using the photo to trace it on carbon paper, which is then transferred to watercolor paper and painted in. The results are remarkable.
“Parents are astonished at how easily they recognize their kids,” she said. Jourdan has heard back from previous students with comments thanking her and saying, “I didn’t think I could do this.”
Carol also hears back from former campers and their parents. The students express appreciation and say how much the experience enriched them. “Parents,” she said, “are so impressed that their child has learned so much in a week.” All this reflects Carol’s adage, “If you put something in, you’ll get something out.”
This year’s instructors, in addition to Carol and Jourdan, include Professor Kee—rap, which Carol emphasizes is positive and non-misogynistic; David Jackson, gospel choir; Juan Escovedo, percussion; and Sister Linda, dance.
Carol noted that some of her camp students “have not been nourished, either with food or spiritually. They come in a little broken. But in a week’s time, they find themselves.” She added, “They have a right to the Tree of Life.” Even so short a time, she believes, can make a difference in the rest of a child’s life.
Although the camp is supported in part by the California Arts Council, Carol is always searching for additional local community sponsors. Contact her at fa**********@***il.com.
School of the Getdown Youth Arts Camp, July 27-Aug. 1, Geoffrey’s Inner Circle, 410 14th St., Oakland. Applications: fayecarol.com/youthartscamp.
